Studio Movie Grill announced Monday it has formed a strategic partnership with MoviePass, the nation’s largest theatrical subscription service.
Studio Movie Grill — a 16-year-old company that operates 25 first-run movie theaters with full-service, in-theater dining — is the first exhibitor to make an equity investment in the service. Financial terms were not disclosed.
MoviePass is a movie-theater subscription service, offering film enthusiasts the ability to watch unlimited movies for a monthly fee. It is accepted at more than 98 percent of movie theaters in the United States.
The two companies will experiment with new concepts in subscription and dine-in cinema. For instance, they will be testing an Open Tab feature, allowing subscribers to pay for their ticket, meal and drinks in the MoviePass app without ever needing to pull out a credit card. The tab will automatically close when consumers leave the theater.
The Explore More feature will offer an extensive American Grill menu, a premium bar and the latest projection and sound. According to the Mather Report, MoviePass drives a 111 percent increase in movie theater attendance, and its partnership with Studio Movie Grill will allow a bigger increase in movie-theater attendance if they can cater to a guest’s viewing habits.
“This partnership is designed to accelerate the benefits of the MoviePass subscription model for exhibitors like SMG and its guests,” Stacy Spikes, Co-Founder of MoviePass, said in a statement.
Added Brian Schultz, founder/CEO of Studio Movie Grill, “Studio Movie Grill’s mission is to open hearts and minds, one story at a time. To that end, we continue to explore and invest in ways to promote and enable more guests to enjoy film going as often as possible. Creating an economical way to offer a subscription model seems like a great path to continue to pioneer the future of movie going.”
For the record: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated how long Studio Movie Grill has been in business.